Drexel Students Win First Place at Northeast Regional Junior Solar Sprint Competition

Drexel Students Win First Place at Northeast Regional Junior Solar Sprint Competition

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June 5, 2012

Drexel engineering student team Lucky 13 won first place after competing in the open division of the Northeast Regional Junior Solar Sprint Competition on June 2, 2012 at the Franklin Institute. The team consisted of Thomas Thompson (CAEE), Kevin Recevuer (ECE) and Victor Batarseh (CBE), under the guidance of faculty advisor, Dr. Kevin Scoles, associate professor of ECE.

Five teams represented Drexel University at the competition against a total of 133 registered teams from the Philadelphia area. Students from middle school and high school participated in the junior division that ran in a double elimination tournament style on a straight track until a single winner was crowned. The winner then participated in the open division, reserved for college students, adults and hobbyists. This year, the only racers in the open division, excluding the youth team that won the junior division, were Drexel engineering students.

The Junior Solar Sprint (JSS) is a design engineering challenge that allows students from fifth through eighth grade to design and create model solar electric race cars. Through the JSS, students develop teamwork and problem solving abilities, investigate environmental issues, gain hands-on engineering skills and use principals of science and math to get the fastest, most interesting and best crafted vehicle possible.

In order to participate in the Northeast Regional Junior Solar Sprint Competition, a model-size solar car must be designed and assembled soundly by a team of students while adhering to several design constraints and rules and regulations of the competition. The vehicle can be powered solely by the sun’s energy via a solar panel and must carry a detachable payload throughout the duration of each race heat. The first car to cross the finish line or get the farthest down the track with its payload wins the heat and thus moves on to the next round.

To learn more about the competition, view the Northeast Regional Junior Solar Sprint Competition’s official website. To see team Lucky 13’s blog about the competition, click here.